Well this is it guys, after a somewhat troubled year of BMW ownership, ive decided to move on to something different. Decided to go for a new SAAB 9-3 Aero TTiD 180.

Few of you may know, i put the beemer on the market a couple of weeks ago, basically just fancied something different and with a bit more grunt.

Seen this car advertised and liked the look of it, so went up to see it and was able to make a deal. Thing about these cars is that there is very few of them on the roads, especially facelift Aero models and even moreso now.

Has every conceivable extra on it from the factory so couldnt really turn it down, the spec is

Will miss the beemer when it goes, originally looked at a 330 but they are still very expensive to insure, but i only keep my cars around a year so i may consider one next year. I think no-one will deny the Saab is a great looking car, it is a really nice car to drive and extremely comfy.
It may not be as well built or as tight to drive as a BMW but it has bags of character and the power output after a remap would put a 330d to shame.

I just basically want to say thanks for the support and information over the past year and a half, as ive said, i had a troubled time with the E90, im not going to tar all BMWs with the same brush, i probably just bought a lemon, but i have had fun times with the car too.

I'll still pop in from time to time and who knows, i may return to BMW in the near future

To be honest, I think some of the things you've mentioned might raise an eyebrow or two but I am glad you're happy, especially if you've been having trouble with your BM.

I've found it's not so much other marques getting better lately, but BMW dropping the ball. The F30 (which I still think looks dull) is apparently going to put them back on track though so it will be interesting to see what the long term tests read like.

I bought a brand-new 9-3 Convertible in '04 because it was available and I needed something quickly after changing jobs and losing the company car. I agree that it's the most comfortable car I've ever driven and it looked great with the roof down. Sold it after a year though because it was just so uninspiring to drive and if you re-mapped it (mine was the 2.0t petrol) the torque steer was pretty bad.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for SAABs and appreciate their history of completely and utterly over engineering everything in a safety aspect. Not sure if it's the same given recent developments with the company.

To me it's a much nicer looking car than the E90 or even the F30 (apart from the 330d F31 in Estoril that I saw last night ).

Cheers guys, this one has the twin turbo diesel engine, similar to the set up in the 335d, the thing i liked the most was the fact that they are a rare sight on UK roads, i love the character and quirkyness of them and they are indeed very safe cars

Thanks guys. I think the whole appeal of Saab was to be different, and not to follow the crowd. They prided themselves on their 'left field' approach to things.

It may be on the same Epsilon platform but it feels much more premium than your run of the mill Vauxhall. The whole reason why GM and Saab fell out was because Saab was costing GM so much money by fitting superior parts to their cars, Saab wanted to distance themselves from the budget brands that GM stood for. Shortly after this, Saab was dropped by GM and sold to Spyker Cars.

Most of you im sure have seen the Top Gear episode with the history of Saab. Listen to what clarkson says at 13.15 onwards.